‘Inside Out’s Dream Factory, Motown Christmas, Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas and ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ on Netflix, Sisters in a Panic

Dream Productions

You’ve met young Riley’s inner emotions in Pixar’s wildly successful Inside Out animated movies. Now it’s time to see how her dreams — and possibly a few nightmares — get made. That’s the premise of a clever spinoff, airing in four half-hour chapters, set between the two movies, with Riley a tween experiencing pre-adolescent anxiety as a school dance looms. Cue Paula Persimmon (Girls5Eva’s Paula Pell), the lead director of Dream Productions, a studio within Riley’s head that’s dedicated to staging her dreams, the more memorable the better. Problem is, Riley is aging out of her glittery unicorn fantasies and Paula needs to catch up. When Paula’s boss (Maya Rudolph) pairs her with a pretentious daydream director (Krapopolis’ Richard Ayoade), Riley’s sleep is about to become a lot more restless. Amy Poehler (as Joy) and other voices from Inside Out return to comment on the dreamworld chaos.

A Motown Christmas

Stop in the name of love of the season, and settle in for a musical extravaganza, celebrating more than 25 of Motown’s greatest hits, performed by some of Motown’s greatest legends, including Smokey Robinson (at 85, hosting with Halle Bailey), Gladys Knight, the Temptations, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Bailey delivers a medley of Supremes hits, leading a roster of contemporary artists featuring Jamie Foxx (with a salute to Stevie Wonder), Andra Day (with a tribute to the late Motown founder Berry Gordy) and appearances by Ashanti, BeBe Winans, Jordin Sparks, Pentatonix, and a glimpse of the Broadway hit MJ the Musical.

Maria

A year ago, the streamer dangled Oscar bait with Bradley Cooper as Maestro Leonard Bernstein. The composer-conductor once described famed opera soprano Maria Callas as “the Bible of opera,” and the diva now gets her turn in the spotlight in a melancholy biopic starring Angelina Jolie (nominated this week for a Golden Globe) as Callas. The film, directed by Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Spencer), depicts Callas in her final days, reflecting on her turbulent life and devotion to music as she attempts to regain her voice. Hallucinatory segments involving an eager young TV interviewer (Kodi Smit-McPhee) detract from the poignance of Jolie’s refined work, which is the best reason to watch.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

They said it could never be done — as a movie. But as a series, Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s 1967 masterpiece of magical realism finally receives its first filmed adaptation, with the mythical village of Macondo created in Marquez’s homeland of Colombia in a Spanish-language production. The story, laced with fantastical touches, follows multiple generations of the Buendía family, surviving civil war if not the belief that they are condemned by a haunting curse. This sprawling saga unfolds in two parts, with eight episodes comprising the first season, and eight more for a second season to air later.

Bad Sisters

After the tragic accident at sea, the Garvey sisters are in more of a panic than ever as the macabre Irish comedy careens into the back half of its second season. With detectives snooping around, and the disappearance of Angelica (Fiona Shaw) raising new suspicions, this may not be the best time for Grace’s widower Ian (Owen McDonnell) to be getting more intimate with eldest sibling Eva (Sharon Horgan).

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Survivor (8/7c, CBS): With the Season 47 finale a week away, it’s double the immunity challenges and tribal councils in a two-hour episode as the cast of castaways narrows to its final players.
• The Masked Singer (8/7c, Fox): It’s also the semifinals of the costumed singing contest, with friendship bracelets providing extra clues to the identities of the top three (Wasp, Strawberry Shortcake, and Buffalos) as they fight for the last two spots in next week’s finale.
• Sullivan’s Crossing (8/7c, The CW): Things heat up — literally — in the Season 2 finale of the small-town drama after the locals unite to stop a greedy land-bidder from getting control of the Crossing, while Sully (Scott Patterson) decides to come clean about a past crime.

 ON THE STREAM:

• Shrinking (streaming on Apple TV+): It’s a How I Met Your Mother reunion when Cobie Smulders guest-stars as the owner of a car that Jimmy (Jason Segel) covets as an 18th-birthday surprise for daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell). Sparks fly, but is Jimmy ready to act on it?
• Shetland (streaming on BritBox): Ashley Jensen returns for a second round as DI Ruth Calder in the long-running mystery series. Now settled into the Scottish isles, Calder helps fellow DI Tosh (Alison O’Donnell) search for a missing friend in the six-episode Season 9, episodes dropping weekly.
• Ink Master (streaming on Paramount+): In the Season 16 finale, the final three tattoo artists reveal their Master Canvas, with the winner taking home $250,000.
• Queer Eye (streaming on Netflix): The Fab Five are joined by interior designer Jeremiah Brent as they descend upon Las Vegas to work their transformative magic.
• Netflix documentaries include the short film Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World, about a nonverbal autistic teenager who discovers a way to communicate; and the three-part docuseries The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga, a funky fable of a small-town feud that spirals out of control, all the way to the White House.